US border agency head leaving amid child detentions outcry
WASHINGTON- Reuters
The acting commissioner of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency, John Sanders, is resigning and will leave his post on July 5, the agency said on June 25, a move that coincides with an outcry over the treatment of detained migrant children.
Attorneys raised alarms last week after finding more than 300 migrant children in an overcrowded Texas border patrol station, where they said some had been held for weeks without adequate food and water.
Most of the children were transferred https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-immigration-children/u-s-relocates-hundreds-of-migrant-children-from-overcrowded-border-station-idUSKCN1TQ062 to other facilities but then 100 were moved back to the station in Clint, Texas, CBP officials told reporters on Tuesday.
The accounts from lawyers of children wearing soiled clothes and older children caring for younger ones has increased criticism by immigration activists and Democrats of Republican President Donald Trump's hardline immigration policies.
Sanders has led the agency since April, when Trump reshuffled the management of U.S. immigration agencies under the Department of Homeland Security.
Before taking over CBP, he was the agency's chief operating officer and had also been the Transportation Security Administration's chief technology officer. His resignation was first reported by The New York Times.
A surge in migrant families, mostly from Central America, has overwhelmed U.S. border facilities. Many children crossing the border alone, and those separated from adults who are not their parents, are supposed to be transferred quickly out of border patrol custody.
The lawyers who described the conditions at the Texas facility monitor compliance with a legal settlement that attempts to ensure children are adequately cared for while they are being detained by the government.
A CBP official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the agency acknowledges that it does not want custody of the children because "our facilities were not designed for that."
The official said the children were fed three meals a day and given snacks like "burritos, ramen noodles, oatmeal cups, and fruit juice" and allowed showers at least once every three days.
From March 19 to date, the CBP has released 96,000 "family units" but still holds thousands of people in custody, CBP officials said. Many Central American families who say they fear to return to their home countries seek asylum in the United States and are often released pending immigration court proceedings.
Cracking down on immigration has been a priority for Trump but the president has proven unable to push most of his goals through Congress.
On Tuesday, Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives said they plan to approve $4.5 billion in emergency funding to address the crisis caused by the migrant surge, but Trump has threatened to veto the measure.
"This week we have to solve the humanitarian crisis," House of Representatives Democratic Caucus Chairman Hakeem Jeffries told reporters, predicting that the funding package would pass the House with a "strong Democratic vote."
But lawmakers were also rushing to add language before the vote to mandate better health and nutrition standards at border facilities. The changes were being made after some liberal Democrats expressed alarm that not enough was being done to improve conditions at the border.